Plastic Bottles: New York Encourages Green Efforts

Give another win for the green movement as it continues its push for a more environmental friendly culture. New York has joined Connecticut, Oregon, California, Maine, and Hawaii in a plastic bottled water deposit policy. This is a major blow to the bottled water industry that has become one of the green movement’s major adversaries. The law was originally suppose to be passed back in June, 2009 but instead was delayed by a coalition of bottled water companies that deemed the bill unconstitutional. This move push things back until April 2010, until recently in August, a federal state judge ruled that the key elements of the bill could still take place prior to next year.

As of October 31st New York has expanded its deposit laws to now include plastic water bottles. For every plastic bottle of water a five-cent deposit will be included with the purchase, which consumers can then return to the stores for their refund. It works much like the deposit with aluminum cans you see in all of the convenience stores. About 80 percent of unclaimed deposits will go to state funding which could result upwards to $115 million annually.

Nationally on average Americans buy an estimated 28 billions plastic water bottles annually. It is estimated 8 out of every 10 of these plastic water bottles will end up consuming space in a landfill. By placing a monetary value on these bottles there will be an incentive to recycle them for a value rather that throwing them away and sending them to the landfill. This means the plastic bottles scattered through out the city will now have a value and give people an incentive to pick them up.

This will also help the states that have passed this bill by adding dollars to their decreasing revenues. At the same time by expanding the deposit laws this will also bring much needed revenue to individuals. It is easy to ask someone to recycle their plastic bottles, but that doesn’t mean they are going to. With a deposit placed on these bottles individuals will actually lose money if they decide to just trash, which in this day and age losing money isn’t considered a good idea.

It seems as it would only make sense for other states to take a look at the expansion of deposit on plastic water bottles. Although, the plastic bottled water industry continues to be a thorn in the side of the green movement, the expansion of deposit on plastic bottled water is a major win for green movement and their environmental efforts.